Conspiracy
by We Run This
Summary: Mutants are the world's best-kept, most dangerous secret. What happens, then, when they are revealed to the world? SUPER AU, no OC's, and I've completely disregarded most of the X-Men timeline. Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I KNOW I should be working on Timor Mortis or Waifs and Strays, but this little story was niggling in my head and I couldn't get it out. I promise at least one of the above stories will be updated SOON! Don't lose faith, dear readers! This should be relatively short, probably four chapters at most. Enjoy. **

**NOTE: Hulk and Natasha aren't present for this fight. Bruce is off doing some Important Science, and Natasha is on a mission.**

They crouched in the alley, hidden by the dumpster. Scott was leaning against the side, arms wrapped around his knees. A thick black blindfold was tied around his eyes, keeping them shut. He wore a grungy orange jumpsuit. His hair was short but dirty. A shallow cut ran along his forehead, oozing blood sluggishly. There was more blood on his jumpsuit. It wasn't his.

Emma knelt protectively in front of him, though she wasn't currently in her diamond form. She too was wearing the orange suit their guards had provided them, zipped to her neck against the cold. Emma could see her breath.

She scuttled back into the shadows as she heard a car pass, itching to transform but afraid of giving up their location. It had been difficult, so difficult to escape the lab, but they had done it. Many other mutants had tried to escape, but all had been recaptured. It was up to Emma and Scott now.

Mutants were a well-kept secret. There weren't many, and as soon as their powers manifested they were taken and kept in government labs. Some had been contained since birth, while others had lived most of their lives in the outside world. Mutations had an unfortunate tendency to manifest either at birth or during puberty, however, so many of the mutants held at the labs were only teenagers. Emma shut her eyes, wincing as she thought of all her friends at the lab. Jubilee, Kitty, Marie, John, Bobby, even Remy and Alex. Their lives were in her hands now.

Scott touched her arms gently, and she jumped and shushed him. Scott had been in a car accident as a child, and as a result had no control over his powers. Opening his eyes would release a destructive scarlet beam, which would smash through anything it encountered. He had to keep his eyes shut at all times or risk killing any number of people. No sight meant no aim.

But they had managed to escape. Emma, in her diamond form, had managed to saw of Kitty's power-dampening collar. Kitty had phased through the bars and managed to open two cells before she was overwhelmed by the guards. She probably could have stayed phased and escaped, Emma reflected sadly, but she had remained solid so as to open as many cells as possible.

From there, she and Scott managed to break out. Emma would position Scott and he would remove the blindfold, unleashing an unstoppable rush of energy. And in return, Emma had solidified into diamond in order to deflect the bullets the guards fired.

It had been three days since their escape, and they had managed to evade their captors, making their way gradually into the city. Now it was a matter of who to tell. The local police would be no help. The government was the one locking mutants up. The press might react badly and call for their arrest. After much debate, Scott had suggested the Avengers.

Emma's heart soared. The Avengers! She didn't know much about them (they were formed after her capture), but she did know the other, newer mutants spoke of them with awe. Captain America she knew about, having seen the cartoons and read the comics as a child. The parallel between the Nazi experiments and what was being done to mutants would surely sway him to their side. Bruce Banner _was _an experiment, and maybe if she told him about Laura and Logan, he would help them. Tony Stark she didn't know much about, and they others were completely unknown, but perhaps the support of the other two would convince them.

She shook herself roughly. First they had to find the Avengers. There was no way to talk to them, and they couldn't possibly just walk up to their tower (which, incidentally, Emma could see from her place in the alley). She stiffened as she heard footsteps on the near deserted street outside. She could feel Scott tense behind her and knew he heard it too. They men started talking, and her heart nearly stopped. She recognized those voices.

Gripping Scott's hand, she balanced on her heels, peeing around the dumpster. They'd wait until there was a gap, and then-

"Run!" she whisper-shrieked to Scott, and they sprang up and sprinted out, Emma clenching Scott's hand and leading him all the way. Men shouted behind them, and Emma could hear footsteps closing in fast. She was struck with an idea. She stopped, and Scott stumbled behind her. She turned him quickly, and yanked off his blindfold. Immediately, red light poured from his eyes. The men behind them were flung backwards, and his blast continued, destroying a car and sending it flying into a building.

"Close your eyes!" Emma shouted, and he complied. She grabbed his hands and they continued running.

Emma screamed as Scott was ripped from her grasp and strong arms encircled her waist, lifting her off the ground. A man was holding Scott, whispering to him. She could just make out the words.

"Your girlfriend is directly in from of you, open our eyes and she's dead."

Emma thrashed, twisting in her captor's grip. She grunted slightly and a fist connected with her stomach, and she quickly turned to diamond in response. She swung her elbow forcefully at the man's head, smirking slightly as he crumpled. She yelled hoarsely as several more men hit her from behind, pinning her arms to her side. She lifted her feet, and in her heavy diamond state they stumbled under her weight. She kicked angrily and caught one of them in the jaw. He went down, cursing. She twisted and rose to her feet.

Something hit the ground heavily near her, and she was knocked off her feet. Turning, she caught sight of a man wearing a cape and holding a large, square hammer. Thor. She nearly grinned with relief but soon realized that these people thought she was the enemy. Some sort of blast caught her in the chest, and she went flying back, landing near the man holding a struggling Scott. An arrow hit her shoulder, but bounced off the diamond. She saw a man raise a gun and point it directly at Scott. She leaped in front of him, and heard several voices hollering, "No!"

The bullets bounced off her chest, hitting the ground and the building behind her. At least one hit the man holding the gun, who went down shouting curses. Something hit her hard in the back of the head, and she heard a _crack_. Emma was forced to change back into her human form lest her head snap off from the blow. A dart grazed her neck, and she sank woozily to the ground, next to an already sedated Scott. Despair overwhelmed her. Distantly, she could hear a man in red, white, and blue shouting furiously at the gunman. Other men were picking her up now, and she twisted feebly in their grip. The head of the group charged with recapturing them was talking now, explaining away the battle.

"..dangerous. Their parents had been experimenting on them, and we found them locked in the basement of their home. They've been brainwashed, they think we're the bad guys, but look at them, that isn't natural.."

"No," Emma mumbled, her tongue thick in her mouth," ther lyin."

She had been laid on the sidewalk next to Scott. She couldn't tell if he was awake, as his eyes were closed. It was up to her, now, to stop the men taking them back. She grit her teeth, forcing herself to focus. Thor was standing nearby, listening silently to the exchange. Steeling herself, she managed to get her hands underneath her and rose shakily to her feet. Two steps to Thor, one, two, c'mon, Emma, you've got this.

"She's moving!" someone-the archer, Hawkeye- shouted, but it was too late. She launched herself onto Thor's back, wrapping her arms and legs around his thick torso. She locked her arms and hooked her legs together and turned to diamond. It would be nearly impossible to remove her without hurting Thor.

Thor, for his part, twisted and tried to pry her off, but she held tight. Hawkeye shouted again.

"We can't fire, we'd hit Thor! Cap, can you do anything?"

Captain America approached the wild girl who had latched on to Thor, hands raised in a placating gesture. He spoke calmly, glancing at his teammates before continuing.

"We're not going to hurt you. You've been through a lot, but these men are going to help you get better."

Emma was panting wildly, looking frantically around at the Avengers and government men surrounding her. She whimpered quietly.

"No! They're trying to take us back to the labs! They'll hurt us! They'll hurt the others!"

"Let go of Thor, and turn back into a person, and then we can discuss things like adults."

Somehow, Emma found words. "Explain the bullets."

Cap stopped, looking at her inquisitively. "What?"

"If they're trying to help us, explain the bullets."

Captain America turned to the men. "Explain the bullets."

For once, they seemed at a loss for words. The man nearest Emma and Thor growled.

"Alright, brat, if you're not going to come quietly-"

He turned his gun on Scott.

Emma's heart sank. She couldn't let anything happen to Scott. He was her best friend, and his brother was still back at the lab. If he was hurt…

Wordlessly, Emma dropped from Thor. The man clicked the safety off and grinned.

"Hands up, and back to human form, kiddo."

Captain America's comm crackled, and she heard him whisper a response, though she couldn't make out the words. She slowly raised her hands.

An arrow pierced the man's shoulder, pinning him to the wall. The gun went off, and Emma screamed as she dove on top of Scott, shielding him. The other Avengers sprang into action, mercilessly attacking the men. She didn't know how long it went on, but she never moved from her position over Scott, determined to keep him safe.

She jerked as a hand touched her diamond shoulder. Turning slightly, she saw a man in a black suit. He had sandy, slightly receding hair and a small smile. He offered her his hand.

"Let's get back to the tower and discuss your situation."

Taking a deep breath, Emma took his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

They were loaded into a helicopter with the Avengers. Scott was groggy, having woken from the sedative several minutes into the flight. He sat on the end of a row, and Emma, still diamond, perched protectively in the seat next to him. A funny sort of pain was building in her head, like ants crawling around behind her eyes. The man, who had introduced himself as Agent Coulson, was gazing intently at them. The other Avengers, too, couldn't seem to keep their eyes off, and were staring curiously at the teenagers in front of them.

"Names and ages?"

Emma glanced discreetly at Scott, which proved ineffective as he had been reunited with his blindfold. What names should they use? He spoke first.

"Cyclops and White Queen. I'm twelve and she's thirteen." The man raised an eyebrow at their names, but jotted it down on his clipboard and continued. "Alright. Why don't you tell me about those men?"

Scott dipped his shoulder, as if to say, _OK, Emma, your turn. _She grit her teeth but began.

"Mutants are people with the X-gene. It's a change in your DNA that basically fucks with your life. Some people have physical mutations like wings or fur; some people have powers you can't see, like, I don't know, telepathy, and some have both. Cyclops shoot force lasers out of his eyes, only he was in a car accident. The trauma stops him from being able to control it. I can turn to diamond."

She swallowed and glanced at Agent Coulson. Her headache grew. He was calm, nodding and writing down everything she said. The Avengers, too, seemed to take it in stride. They probably dealt with a lot of crazy, in their line of work.

"Only, a lot of mutants are powerful. More powerful than humans. I mean, in diamond form, I can't get hurt. Nothing can stop me. There are people with a healing factor and people who can make things explode and people who can control your thoughts. So I guess the government was afraid of us."

"They started rounding us up. It's usually pretty easy to tell who's a mutant, because your abilities don't fully manifest until puberty. And then you can't really control it at first, so people notice. I couldn't transform out of diamond for a while, and Cyclops, you manifested in school, right? So he blew up his school. We escaped from a facility in Pennsylvania somewhere. There aren't many mutants left. A lot of them get killed during the preliminary tests, and a bunch more die during the operations. There were only about a hundred in our facility. Most of them were around our age."

Cap's hands were clenched on the armrests of his seat. His forearms and shoulders shook with tension, and his teeth were clenched. He was shaking with rage. Coulson had finished writing and was looking at her, eyes hard as steel. Thor growled slightly and gripped Mjolnir.

"We shall slay these fiends who would dare to harm the children of Midgard!" he roared. Outside the copter, thunder rumbled.

Hawkeye leaned forward, hands resting on his knees. He spoke in a low, urgent voice.

"Enhanced vision- could that be a mutation? "

Emma nodded, immediately. That was exactly the sort of thing the X-gene would affect.

"It started when I was thirteen. I was fucked up for weeks, because I couldn't help focusing on everything."

Tony leaned forward. "If nothing can hurt you, why did it take so long for you to escape?"

Emma stiffened, her hands fisting the legs of her suit. She trembled slightly, her breath gone, skull pounding, the ants swarming and turning her vision black as flashes of _keep still shut up muscles locked unable as they cut_-

"They have a telepath. Jason. He's the son of one of the generals. He can get in your head, keep you still," Scott said loudly. He groped for her hand, missing by only a few centimeters. She gripped and squeezed as her tremors subsided. The ants were still there.

"We're going to help you."

oOo

They were in a SHIELD base somewhere in New York. Theoretically secure, but Bruce could tell that Scott and Emma didn't feel particularly safe.

Currently, the three were in a small, sterile medical bay. The other Avengers had thoroughly briefed Bruce on their little situation. Bruce had asked them for blood samples, had assured them that if they didn't want them done, they didn't have to. But apparently, both Scott and Emma were stubborn, and were determined to go through with the test.

Well, that had been the plan.

In reality, Scott had panicked the moment the needle had entered his skin. He visibly tensed, and the assistant had hastily withdrawn the needle when he began trembling. She approached Emma with the other syringe, and then Emma had become distressed. In this case, "become distressed" was code for "had sunk to the ground, clutching her head in her hands and muttering feverishly about ants". She was now sleeping fitfully on a medical cot, clutching Scott's hand in a death-grip.

"I think her mutation's evolving," Scott had explained, trying to be helpful and avoid them having to sedate his friend. "This happened when Charles was going through withdrawal after he got taken in."

"Charles?" Bruce asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, Charles Xavier. Telepath. We used to call him Professor, but he said it made him feel old. He's had his mutation since birth, so he could control it and avoid getting taken in by the government. But then there was this thing between him and Magneto, and they found out about him. And I guess he drank a lot before, so he went through this awful withdrawal and when he recovered his mutation was even stronger than before."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully. "So this happens often, then? Someone's mutation evolving?"

"Oh, yeah. But sometimes we can't tell if it's really evolving or the mutant's just getting better at controlling it. I always used to wish I would be able to control mine. Beast said once we'd escaped, he'd make me a kind of visor with red quartz, so I could open my eyes and my beams would be refracted. Then I could control it, and, you know, see."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully. "You know, Tony could probably make you something like that."

Scott smiled brightly, and Bruce felt the Other Guy shift inside him. They had been talking for close to a half hour, and this was the happiest Scott had seemed. He felt a sort of solidarity with Scott. They both had an unwanted…_thing,_ that was nearly impossible to control and that had effectively ruined their lives. He remembered his own imprisonment, the pain of experiments, the fear and rage churning in his chest as he ran, and he could hear the Hulk roaring. He stepped back, clenching his fists tightly. Scott was stiff, sitting bolt upright in his stool. Bruce swallowed and forced himself to take deep breaths. Gradually, the blood stopped pounding in his ears and his heart rate dropped. He sunk wearily into the chair beside Scott. "Sorry."

Scott nodded mildly. "No problem. Wolverine, at the base, he's kind of like you. He goes into these rages…and they cloned him, so now we have X-23 getting angry and clawing things, too. You should meet Gambit; he always manages to calm them down*. You wouldn't expect it, but there's something about him..."

Bruce found himself a bit overwhelmed by all the names. "It seems like you were quite close with the other people at the base."

Scott nodded emphatically. "Yeah. My actual brother is in there. That's why we have to go back and rescue them as soon as possible. But I care about the others, of course. White Queen had a sister there, actually, but then Kayla made a deal with Stryker and left, so they're not really sisters anymore."

Emma stirred at the mention of her codename. She sat up groggily, fisting her eye with the hand not clutching Scott's. Scott turned his head toward her.

"Are you okay? How's your mutation?"

They both remember the horrible week when Jubilee had nearly died, when her mutation evolved too fast (a reaction to the treatments, Hank said), and the burning energy coursing through her body nearly overwhelmed her. They remember when Beast had collapsed on the ground, shouting and writhing and transforming from a young man with hands for feet to a blue, furry, monstrous creature.

Emma grimaced slightly, kneading her forehead. "I think I've just developed telepathy."

oOo

Emma's new mutation was still weak. She could hear whispers of thought, and she could feel her how much stronger her mental shields had gotten. Charles had tried to teach them to block out telepaths once they found out about Jason, but so far Jubilee and Remy* had been the only ones able to pull them off successfully.

She sat with Scott at a large conference table. The Avengers were clustered tightly around. Captain America ("Call me Steve, please-") was leading the meeting, the primary focus of which was to figure out a plan of action for the invasion of the base. Scott and Emma had told them all that they knew about the layout and people (guards, scientists, prisoners, and the like). Mutants had been moved around the facility quite often, placed according to whatever experiment they were undergoing rather than given a permanent cell. Emma had spoken to about one hundred mutants, she estimated, and the information she had gathered proved invaluable. Scott had helped in a different way. Someone had had the idea of having him listen to a recording of a recent government meeting. He carefully noted all the voices he recognized, including William Stryker.

The plan was to send the more subtle members of the Avengers-Clint, Natasha, and Steve- to infiltrate the base. They would gather as much intel as they could, then contact SHIELD. The facility was technically a government-mandated operation. SHIELD would do its best to essentially bully Stryker into releasing the mutants. They assured Cyclops and White Queen that this would minimize mutant casualties.

If Stryker failed to comply, they would attack from the outside, creating a diversion that would allow Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Cap to remove the inhibitor collars and release the mutants, who could hopefully assist them in seizing the base.

Of course, minutes into the execution, the plan went to hell in a hand basket.

**A/N: Next chapter will be BIG! I pinky swear to update Timor Mortis soon! Enjoy!**

***These are legitimate things: Remy's powers allow him to create a sort of static field that telepath's can't penetrate; he also has a degree of empathy that he can use to calm people down provided they don't know about it. Additionally, Jubilee **_**does **_**have powerful, natural mental shields.**


End file.
